Half-Assed Is Better Than Nothing

one of the hardest things to learn as a depressed former Gifted Kid™ is that half-assed is better than nothing. take the 50%, 40%, even 20% job. scrubbing your face is better than not taking a shower at all. picking up your clothes is better than never cleaning. nibbling on some bread is better than starving. DO THINGS HALFWAY. NOW YOU'RE 100% BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE BEFORE. One of my college professors used to say “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” I didn’t understand that for years because I didn’t do anything poorly, I couldn’t do anything poorly, I had to Do Everything Perfectly. But brushing your teeth for 30 seconds is better than not brushing them at all when that 2 minutes seems exhausting. Doing ten minutes of yoga is better than 10 minutes of sitting when 30 minutes of cardio sounds impossible. Changing my clothes is good when a whole shower is impossible. Standing on the porch for a few minutes is worth it after being in the house for three straight days because I don’t have the energy to go anywhere. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly... because doing it poorly is better than not doing it.

Two text posts encourage people struggling with depression or burnout to accept partial effort instead of doing nothing. The punchline is that imperfect self-care—washing your face, brushing your teeth briefly, changing clothes, or eating a little—is still meaningful progress, reframing “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” as practical compassionate advice.

• @rzeczyzabawne / 10249 2023-06-23